Hat-trick of new partners in the UK doubling Addleshaw Goddard's Global Investigations practice

Addleshaw Goddard has doubled the size of its Global Investigations practice following the arrival of two new partners who between them have more than 50 years' experience and the promotion of three internal candidates in the UK and Hong Kong.

In the UK the addition of London-based David Young and Polly Sprenger, partners previously at Eversheds and Katten respectively, and the promotion of Sarah Thomas to partner nearly doubles the partner team in AGs corporate crime, FI investigations and Health & Safety practice to create one of the largest specialist teams of its kind in the UK.

This brings the total number of partners in the practice in the UK to seven. In addition two further partners have been promoted in Hong Kong, Ivan Chang and Janie Wong who respectively deal with regulatory and corporate crime investigations.

David Young – health & safety and food law

David has practised food law over much of his career alongside his recognised health and safety practice. He joins from Eversheds where he spent his entire career since qualification in 1984, co-founding the environment, health and safety team, and leading the food sector group. He also brings considerable experience of working in retail, energy, manufacturing and transport in fatal accident investigations, inquests, environmental investigations and enforcement, trading standards and consumer protection and product safety. Most recently, David has been advising clients in relation to COVID-19 issues.

David successfully defended a client in the first ever norovirus prosecution and advised on the establishment of the Food Industry Information Network (FIIN) in 2015 following the “horsemeat scandal”. He has been FIIN’s sole legal adviser for the last seven years, which now has 40+ leading food industry manufacturers and retailers as members.

He is listed as “Star” in the Chambers & Partners rankings, and solely occupies the “Senior Statespeople” category in the 2020 edition.

Polly Sprenger joins Addleshaw Goddard from US firm Katten Muchin Rosenman where she was a Partner, having previously been Head of Strategic Intelligence at the SFO, spent five years as a private investigator, was the Technical Advisor to a Parliamentary Inquiry into private investigative misconduct and was a member of the prosecution team in the high profile trial of News of the World journalists.

Polly has a unique offering in the London and international market, representing corporate and financial services clients either dealing with allegations of misconduct or as the victims of fraud, corruption and money laundering in the cross over space between corporate crime and civil remedies. She is experienced in private prosecutions work; and her multi-jurisdictional practice includes extensive experience conducting litigation across both civil and criminal courts, and managing cases involving evidence collection and legal action in multiple countries and regions.

Polly and AG Global Investigations Head, Nichola Peters and partner Michelle de Kluyver have all been ranked in Global Investigation Review's top 100 women practicing globally in investigations, and are listed in Who's Who Legal as an expert in investigations. In 2019, Polly was also listed by Chambers & Partners in the first-ever rankings of private prosecution specialists

"David and Polly are significant and exciting hires. Both are adept at dealing with regulators and law enforcement, as well as managing reputational and other commercial and legal risks and we are delighted to welcome them to the team. Their experience in retail, energy, financial services and transport is a good fit with our sector focus and David's work over many years will be of immediate benefit to clients turning to us for support with the COVID-19 pandemic."

She added:

"The complexity and increasing number of investigations has increased the need for bigger and multi-disciplinary teams. We have one of the most complete corporate crime offerings in the UK that is able to advise on issues such as bribery, fraud, money laundering, through to sanctions, health and safety, regulatory investigations and proceedings, as well as supporting corporate and individual clients on the multiplicity of risks they face, and, as the market continues to develop, we plan to grow the practice to ensure we have the right team to deliver the advice clients need."

Addleshaw Goddard's Global Investigations team is a market leading practice specialising in a diverse range of matters including anti money laundering, fraud, corruption, sanctions and extradition, as well as health and safety and other investigations led by a number of regulators including the Police, FCA, PRA and FRC. The Health & Safety practice led by Erin Shoesmith is instructed in the two largest public inquiries currently underway in the UK: Grenfell and Manchester Arena.

The seven partner UK team expects to grow significantly in size over the next few years and has been in expansion mode, adding six other senior lawyers in the last two years in the UK: